Spurs win, but don’t celebrate

Kobe Bryant was standing on the first “S” in the Spurs logo at midcourt of the AT&T Center, which seemed appropriate.

Too often in this Los Angeles Lakers’ season gone south, the All-Star guard has had to play as if he’s wearing one on his chest, a superhero even in defeat after soul-crushing defeat.

So when Bryant drilled a 32-footer Wednesday with Tim Duncan closing, in the third quarter of a 108-105 Spurs victory the home team did not seize so much as hang onto for dear life, all anyone could do was shrug.

It was a basket the Spurs would remember a quarter later, when Bryant again rose from 3-point range for another low-percentage shot.

He was 7 feet closer now, with the Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard Velcroed to his purple-and-gold No. 24 jersey.

This attempt skimmed off the iron, and when Earl Clark’s Hail Mary at the buzzer also missed, the Spurs had survived to claim a triumph they’d later try to pass off as a moral defeat.

Against the struggling and shorthanded Lakers, who were missing injured big men Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol and Jordan Hill, the Spurs had a 17-point lead in the third quarter.

And nearly lost it.

They were ahead 105-95 with less than four minutes to go, and nearly blew that, too.

Tony Parker led the Spurs with 24 points, while Tiago Splitter produced 14 points and a season-high 14 rebounds. Leonard — the “star of the show,” according to coach Gregg Popovich — helped limit Bryant to 10-of-24 shooting as the Spurs held on to win their 11th consecutive home game.

There was a time any win over the archrival Lakers would have been met with celebration in the Spurs’ locker room. Not this one.

“There are some games, even if you lose, you get better,” said Manu Ginobili, who added 19 points and eight rebounds off the bench. “The last two games, we got worse.”

Wednesday’s victory, coupled with Monday’s 95-88 loss at New Orleans and stretching to a 100-83 loss in New York on Jan. 3, left the Spurs (28-10) reeling from a bit of an identity crisis.

“I thought we were really raggedy on offense, to the point I didn’t know who was on the court,” Popovich said. “I didn’t recognize that basketball team.”

The latter could also be said of the Lakers, who lost their fifth in a row in falling to 15-20.

Instead of fielding a pair of All-Star big men, L.A. started rookie Robert Sacre at center and undersized Metta World Peace at power forward. Darius Morris, a second-year guard, started opposite Bryant in Mike D’Antoni’s makeshift lineup.

Bryant did his best to lift these anonymous Lakers anyway, pumping in 27 points for his 18th straight game with at least 20.

World Peace chipped in 23 for L.A., while Clark provided 22 points off the bench, eight more than his career high. Clark’s 13 rebounds were also a career best.

“We’ve lost five games in a row, so it’s pretty self-explanatory,” Bryant said. “I feel like we competed, and that was very important.”

The Spurs seemed to have things under control late in the fourth, up by 10 with 3:39 to play, before melting down.

After sinking three 3-pointers in the frame, en route to his 14 points, Stephen Jackson blew his stack complaining to referee Mark Lindsay for a foul call.

Jackson picked up with a technical, and after Steve Nash made the free throw, Bryant tossed in a deep 3-pointer. Before the Spurs could inbound the ball, Jackson drew another tech, leading to his ejection and another Nash foul shot.

For Jackson, it was probably his worst decision-making of the season that didn’t involve Twitter. In the span of seven seconds, the Spurs’ edge had been sliced to five.

The rest of the game was a dogfight, with the Spurs clinging to a scrap of a lead.

With 3.9 seconds left, Bryant rose with a chance to tie, and the Spurs remembered what happened earlier.

“Every crazy shot that nobody has a chance to make,” Ginobili said, “players like him can make it.”

This time, when Bryant elevated for a low-percentage shot, Leonard was there. Superman left it short, and the Spurs had a victory they didn’t dare celebrate.